The Gadfly, a novel about a young man's embrace of revolutionary politics, had been an enormous success for Voynich.

Shaw said he undertook the task for an "ancient revolutionary comrade", referring to Voynich as a "female nihilist".

While studying in Italy in the early stages of the Risorgimento he converts from Catholicism to radicalism, much to the dismay of his mentor in the priesthood.

Voynich's fears were justified when a few months later an adaptation was written in America by Edward E. Rose, with popular actor Stuart Robson in the lead role.

The Los Angeles Herald reported that Voynich's view of the production was entirely accurate: "Had one a wish to deal gently with Mr. Robson it would be hard to give him any honest praise for the exhibition of incompetency to which we were treated in The Gadfly.